It is well known to provide mapping programs on mobile devices such as cell phones. In that regard, Google Maps for Mobile is a program that allows users to request map images, both street and satellite, by providing an address, the name of building, latitude and longitude, or some other information that identifies a particular geographical location (hereafter, “geolocation”).
Recently, other products such as Google Earth and Google Maps (browser edition) have provided a user with the ability to download street level images as well. These images are typically panoramic photos and are associated with geolocations as well. By downloading and viewing a street level image, the user is able to view a picture of a location taken from the perspective of a car or pedestrian.
A variety of transitions between a map image and a street level image are known. For example, a user may drag an icon of a person in Google Maps (browser edition) onto a street to display and pop up a street level image of the street. In Google Earth, when a user zooms into the satellite map, the map tilts to a viewpoint that is roughly parallel with the ground, shows a horizon and indicates the availability of panoramic images by first showing a camera icon and then showing a ball onto which a portion of the panoramic image is mapped. When the user rotates the satellite image at this zoom level, the balls reorient the panoramic street-level view mapped to the ball to match the new orientation of the satellite image (e.g., rotating from a North to East direction will similarly change the image shown on the ball from looking Northward to looking Eastward).
Not all mobile devices are capable of implementing such transitions. By way of example only, they may lack the ability to drag an icon such as that shown in Google Maps (browser edition). They may also lack the processing power to display the street view transitions of Google Earth. Similarly, if the mobile devices are connected to the Internet over a cellular network, they may lack Google Earth's ability to speedily download and render additional satellite images needed to display distant locations as the user tilts the view and brings more land (or water) into view.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide additional transitions for devices that do not have high-end processors or high-speed connections to map information.